The meeting began promptly at 12:12pm with Chris Serface, meeting moderator, welcoming everyone to today's meeting and briefly explaining how today's meeting will commence. It was such a joy to see all 92 Rotarian's and guests smiling faces. (okay so some had dark screens, but that's how many joined us on Zoom and I hear another 20 on Facebook live) It is such a blessing to see everyone despite everything that is going on. President Carol Duris rang Scarlett's bike bell to kick off the meeting and thanked members for joining us.
Carol Webster provided a wonderful invocation about the exchange students and the importance of treating people equally with dignity and respect. President Carol Duris then announced that we're blessed today to have a fresh approach to our national anthem. Our very own Sharon Chambers Gordon of Windermere Real Estate and Raising Girls sang for us the Black National Anthem, first performed at a birthday party for Abraham Lincoln in 1900. As we listened to the words and followed along with the words on the slide we were asked to keep in mind that the first verse opens with a command to optimism, praise and freedom: Followed by the second verse reminding us to never forget the suffering and obstacles of the past and the final stanza which is so appropriate at this time because it is about the challenges of the future; they are to be met with perseverance, courage, faith, and trust. This song allows us to acknowledge all of the brutalities and inhumanities that came with enslavement and continues today with disenfranchisement, police brutality, dispossession of health care, education and other resources. What is profound is that this song reveals that there is a still a hopeful future yet to come. Sharon then led us through the 4 way test. After the 4 way test President Carol Duris, introduced Greer Todhunter for the meeting sponsor announcement. Greer Todhunter, Salvation Army, thanked Gil Quante, N2Publishing . The Salvation Army has been distributing food for their neighbors that have a need and cannot come to the foodbank due to everything that is going on right now.
President Carol Duris invited everyone to check out the anniversaries as we had some milestone anniversaries this week; Monique Valenzuela - 1 year, Chris Serface - 6 years, Anthony Chen - 11 years, Dean Hanks - 15 years, Mark Anderson - 17 years, Gil Quante - 20 years cumulative, Ross Hjelseth - 24 years, Richard Jamison - 30 years, Jamie Will - 45 years and John C Dimmer - 59 years.
Carol then rocked out as she announced the birthday celebrants. The birthday question was, how have Stay at Home orders impacted you? Linda Kaye - increased physical activity through walking and son has become her personal trainer, Jack Warnick - staying safe by staying home and working on unfinished projects around the house, Enid Harris - practicing proper social distancing with family, Cynthia Darland - slowed life down a lot and is spending more time walking and spending time with dear friends, Jim Merritt - entire family is staying safe by doing family drive throughs, Stacey Ogle - reassessing her busy life style and working efficiently from home while spending a lot of time with family
President Carol Duris then introduced, Michael Thompson, who introduced our speaker, David Bean, Chairman of the Puyallup Tribe. David has served on the Puyallup Tribal Council for 14 years. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1992 with a degree in business and public administration and after college worked for the Puyallup Tribe’s economic development arm and as a small-business owner. In 2006, he won election to the Puyallup Tribal Council, the Tribe’s seven-member governing body, and in June 2019 accepted the chairmanship. David also serves as vice chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association and is active with other Indian associations. He participates regularly in cultural activities such as drumming, singing, dancing and language classes, and he continues the fishing tradition he learned as a child by participating in Tribal fisheries as a diver harvesting geoducks.
David talked about how the Tribal community expresses stories through their artwork whether it's woodworking, painting or weaving. He explained one of the Tribe's core values, our way is sharing and caring, a greedy man will lose everything in the end. He then explained how their wealth is established through what they share and not what they have. Another one of the Tribe's core values is to be kind, be helpful and be sharing. He discussed the Tribe's history, economic impact on the surrounding area, importance of Tribal gaming, and the impact that the COVID pandemic has had on the Tribal community.
President Carol Duris then thanked, David, for the impactful work done by the Puyallup Tribe in our county and beyond, she told him that in his honor the Club will be making a donation in his name to the Tacoma Rotary Foundation, who invests in many of the same non-profits that the Puyallup Tribe of Indians support.
President Carol Duris thanked Carol Webster for offering the reflection, and thanked Sharon Chambers Gordon for the beautiful Black National Anthem and to Gil for being our meeting sponsor and providing the time to Greer Todhunter and finally huge thanks to Chris Serface for facilitating this meeting.
President Carol Duris announced that our speaker next week will be Tom Pierson, Tacoma Pierce County Chamber who will talk about how our businesses in Tacoma are managing through the Pandemic. Carol encouraged all of us to be People of Action as she rang Scarlett's bicycle bell to end the meeting. See you next week and happy Rotary Thursday!